TV & Radio Wednesday October 5

The Borgias: sinning and winning since 1492, and Entourage returns for its final season.

TV

Jeremy Irons in The Borgias: Kiss my ring

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00pm). Gerald Urquhart and Kate Elliott have given Shortie a much-needed shot of comedy that takes us back to the days of Leonard and Gina. Bravo, thesps. Tonight, Luke accidentally ends up in a church and hears Zlata’s confession.

Survivor: South Pacific (Four, Wednesday, 8.30pm). Season 24? Excited? Nah, neither are we. However, it’s a big week for the Samoan island of Upolu, the location for this series; it also features in Maori Television’s Hunting Aotearoa on Thursday.

Real Life: Megaquake – The Hour That Shook Japan (TV1, 9.30pm). UK documentary about that terrible day in March when the tsunami hit northern Japan.

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The Borgias (TV3, 9.30pm). Irish film-maker Neil Jordan does for the Borgias what Michael Hirst did for the Tudors. History is once again sexed up, although with the Borgias, it probably wasn’t difficult: the crimes listed against this 15th-century family include adultery, incest, theft, rape, murder and simony. Yes, simony. Or, as Derek Jacobi, who plays Cardinal Orsini, would have it: “Simony!” Jeremy Irons is his creepy best as patriarch Rodrigo Borgia, the Spanish cardinal who schemes to become pope. Vannozza dei Cattanei, his mistress and mother of his four children, is played by Joanne Whalley, but as the season progresses her position is supplanted by Giulia Farnese (Lotte Verbeek). English actress Holliday Grainger plays the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, who was married off, several times in fact, for the good of the family.

Charlie’s Angels (TV2, 9.30pm). Dear God, please let the second episode be better than the first one last week which was disjointed, silly and badly acted. Amen.

Entourage (TV2, 11.30pm). Because this is a Hollywood story, they just had to go there – cute It-boy Vince (Adrian Grenier) addicted to drugs and hitting rock bottom at the end of season seven, which somehow involved getting beaten up by Eminem in a hotel. As you do. So as the final season begins, can Vince, Eric, Drama, Turtle and Ari regroup? There will be ups and downs, as well as the usual huge number of guest stars, starting with The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki tonight and, later in the season, Alice Eve, daughter of Trevor, who plays a mean journalist.

FILM

Roman Holiday (Rialto, Sky 025, 8.30pm). The classic starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck is a little bit too in love with Rome, but the leads are fab (Hepburn won an Oscar for the role, and Edith Head won for the costumes) and the whole thing is charming. Fun fact: co-writer Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted, so Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him for 50 years. (1953)

RADIO

Music Alive (Radio New Zealand Concert, 8.00pm). Today at the Proms, Croatian pianist Dejan Lazic and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer, perform works by Liszt and Mahler. – Diana Balham

The Wednesday Drama (Radio New Zealand National, 9.06pm). A radio adaptation of local playwright Dave Armstrong’s award-winning play The Tutor features in the drama slot tonight. When a rich, confident businessman enlists a teacher to help his son with maths, things don’t go according to plan and what seems to be a straightforward proposition takes all concerned out of their comfort zones. The cast features William Walker, Matthew Chamberlain, Paul Harrop and Michele Amas. – Diana Balham